Grand Ayatollah Shirazi remarks on Allah granting honor to personalities, times, places
The daily scholarly meeting of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Sadegh al-Hosseini al-Shirazi was held on Wednesday, the 12th of Rajab. In this session, like the previous meetings, the Marja answered the questions of the attendees about various jurisprudence issues.
In this meeting, Grand Ayatollah Shirazi discussed the reason why some personalities, places and times possess special honor: Honor is sometimes decided by customs, and is attributed by humans to some individuals, places and times. But sometimes honor is given by God Almighty to some figures, places and times. For example, God Almighty has given honor to Friday, which is a time, but He has not given this honor to, for example, Saturday, or, likewise, the honor given to the Kaaba and Karbala, but He has not given this honor to other places. The criterion for establishing such honor is the Holy Qur’an, or the Qudsi Hadiths, or the traditions that we have received from the Infallibles, peace be upon them.
His Eminence also commented on the honor of some people and the “special right” given to such people in some prayers for the fulfillment of pleas by God, that for example in some prayers, we say: “by the right of Muhammad and the family of Muhammad.” The Supreme Marja said: Since God Almighty himself is the creator and owner of everything, and has special right to everything in this existence, therefore, based on the right He has, he has also given rights to some people.
He went on to say: Based on his rights, God Almighty has established a right, including for the Holy Qur’an and for the Ahl al-Bayt, peace be upon them, and all these rights are mentioned in the “Treatise on the Rights” by Imam Sajjad, peace be upon him.
Grand Ayatollah Shirazi cited some of the supplications in this context, and said: In some supplications, it is stated: I ask you by your own right over the best of your creations, that is, the Holy Prophet, and by the right that you have established for him and made it binding upon yourself, to send Salawat to Muhammad and his family, peace be upon them. It is emphasized here that the Almighty God has established a right for the Holy Prophet and his family.
